Skip to main content

Level The Playing Field

When John the Baptizer came onto the scene the Gospel writers stated he was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, Prepare the way of The Lord.

How did John do this?

By "leveling the playing field."

The Jews' days were numbered and the time for the Temple to be no more was close at hand. Everything was about to change. The entire way of processing information from those who saw themselves 'above others' was going to be brought down--both in the spiritual and in the physical.

John was preaching a "level gospel", The scribes, Pharisees and religious lawyers were going to be brought "down". The world as they knew it was about to flee! Jesus' life, death, and resurrection would cause everything to change, Nothing would ever be the same. It would be like not having a sun or a moon--or an authority who knew what to do. The 'constant things' would shift.

And those who were poor and ignorant of the laws and righteousness would now be "brought up" to a level playing field. 

Making a way for The Lord in people's lives will cause turbulence for some...like lightening and thunders and a quaking earth...there isn't a thing they can do about it. Will they turn to The Lord and be spared? This is also the message another John records in The Revelation where the turbulence of the Christ's entrance and resurrection on this planet wreaked havoc in the cosmos! And how the Church finds itself is in the middle being used by God to still make "level" paths for people to come to the Lord. The ground IS level at the foot of the cross. 

Popular posts from this blog

I Wish We'd All Been ... Left Behind

  Perhaps you have heard the group DC Talk sing the remake of Larry Norman’s’ song, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”? There is something tragically deceptive about the lyrics though. As we sing along, we find ourselves participating in a couple instances where we wish we had been ready to be taken instead of left behind. But that is not how Jesus tells his side of the story. The words are inspired by Matthew 24:40-41. But let’s look more closely, shall we? MATTHEW 24:37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away . That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. ...

IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY

I just had a board meeting where I went over a study on the word "unity" and "divisions." The question that immediately came up was, "Well, Christians don't have to agree on everything...right?" My response went something like this, "Well, wouldn't we want to?" It hit the fan like a lead balloon, which is not at all what I had expected. I thought all of the other board members would be shouting, "Yes!" and giving me high-fives and chest bumps. Well, maybe not chest bumps at this age.  There were some other ideas, thoughts and opinions expressed, and I was like, "We just went over this study of like 25 verses that state we are to be unified and have no divisions among us. Why don't you get it?" Seems like I was the one who actually didn't get it. It wasn't that I thought my interpretations were wrong, the weren't. The question centered around their application. "How in the world are we to agree on e...

Should Christians Be Taught To Fight?

Can we ever truly just fight for something without having to fight against something else? Should (good) Christians fight against anything? What about religiosity? My first reaction to "The Soul of Hip Hop", by D W Hodge was how I was quite taken with his topic, methodological approach to communicating it, his passion and his testimony—who doesn’t like a good story? But I was left with some questions in the end and concerns that have left me wondering if this is a safe book for young and influential youth ministers to read? One could be persuaded to give in to a vigilantism or “we vs. them” stance in the Church. Not that we don’t have that already at times. Times are changing quickly. There is a tide that is upon us and an unidentified undertow that seems to be slowly eroding a foundation—whether it is the good parts of the foundation or the bad has to be discerned. I found myself routing and cheering when Hodge used such terminology as “the domesticating of converts” bein...

Family Time Videos